


If Leaving Is Better Than Living In Fear

by crimsondragonn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Death, Courting Rituals, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Galra!Keith, Humour, M/M, altean!lance, courting, soldier!Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 09:51:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14422845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsondragonn/pseuds/crimsondragonn
Summary: Lance's world was shaken the moment he met Keith, a Galran soldier, at Princess Allura’s birthday ball and coming of age celebration. Mere months before the destruction of the Galra planet and the annihilation of planet Altea and it's inhabitants.Keith's world was taken by storm after the loss of all that he held dear the moment Zarkon rose from the dead. In return for taking something dear from him, Keith swore he would make Zarkon pay and formed the very first Blade of Marmora.





	If Leaving Is Better Than Living In Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Heyy! So I wrote this for the Klance Reverse Bang! 
> 
> Maru did some really, really, reallyyyyyy incredible art for this fic (it's so good, pls check them out) their account is this:  
> https://www.instagram.com/marukmpos/
> 
> And the beta for this fic is General_Button, they've got some fics on their own ao3 account which you can find here:  
> https://archiveofourown.org/users/General_Button/pseuds/General_Button/

“I don’t know Coran, this outfit seems pretty out there, y’know? Are you absolutely sure I have to wear this to the ball?” Lance asked, standing in front of the mirror and staring at himself with a critical eye. He turned his body in various positions, noticing the way how no matter what he did the fabric seemed dead set on clinging to every curve of his body. 

“Of course I’m sure, lad! This outfit is tradition. I wore it back when I was a little squirt chasing after the coattails of a very young Alfor. He was quite an adventurous one! I remember this one time, we were on planet Warbwurn…” Coran began, using his entire body to tell the story of how Alfor decided to charge straight into a fight without talking to the rest of the team first. And he definitely didn’t talk to Coran, his brand new guardian at the time. “... And then by the time the burning ball of flame went down the horizon, we had all gathered by the purple fires of the major city and celebrated the events of the day! You know, that very same night is when I noticed that I began getting gray hairs!” 

Lance grinned, always thrilled to hear about Coran’s adventures. He was relieved that he had been assigned to be Coran’s right hand man, instead of getting stuck with Old Grouch Borny. The young Altean shuddered, remembering what happened to the last assistant that got on the wrong side of Borny. He reached towards where the giant heavy cape was draped over the chair in front of his vanity dresser. He tugged the cape onto his shoulders and already felt the weight tugging him down. The thought of having to wear the heavy garment for the rest of the night filled Lance with a heavy dread. The night hadn't even begun and Lance was already looking forward to when he could get back into bed and blissfully fall asleep. 

He took one last look into the mirror, deciding that maybe he didn't look that bad. The cape definitely helped and hid away most of where the tight fabric clung to him. Especially in areas where he wasn't quite so sure he wanted the entire public to see. Shifting the fabric slightly he was able to hide away most of his lower body behind the huge mass of dark blue fabric. Satisfied with his final look, he glanced away from his reflection to see whether or not Coran was finally done with his own look. Immediately his jaw dropped down in shock at what he saw.

Coran was in his own fitted suit, except it was a bright neon orange compared to Lance’s own pale blue. He had shoulder pads that seemed to extend past his head that had his own equally bright neon yellow cape. When he saw Coran turn around to grab a brush, he noticed that Coran had managed to get a giant orange moustache design on the back of his cape. It helped ease Lance’s nerves a bit, knowing that he wouldn’t be the only one at the ball dressed ridiculously. Maybe he could even convince Coran to enter and strike a pose while Lance sneaks around to go check out the crowd without any of his own flashy entrance.

“You ready to go, lad? We’re nearing to be too fashionably late y’know!” Coran declared, giving his hair a quick before tediously arranging his moustache to form the signature Coran-trademarked shape he was known all across Altea for. Lance took a deep breath, smoothing down all of the imaginary wrinkles in his clothing and nodded. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be for my first ever Royal event.”

\---

Leaning against the doorway, Keith let out a loud sound of disapproval that echoed throughout the room. Shiro was still sitting in front of the mirror, as he had been for the past hour carefully styling his hair and putting on his trademark eyeliner. After letting out yet another huff of impatience, Shiro glanced up to make eye contact with Keith through the mirror. 

“Someone isn’t listening to my speeches,” Shiro stated teasingly, rolling his eyes when Keith showed his fangs at him in response. It seemed like Keith still hasn’t grown out of his cub like behaviour, even though he had just turned twenty one three moon cycles ago. 

“I would listen to them if they weren’t so utterly boring,” Keith grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest. He narrowed violet eyes towards where Shiro had finally gotten out of his seat only to cross the room towards the closet. Keith let out another groan, knowing that Shiro was now testing his patience on purpose. “Shiro, come on. What does your little mantra have anything to do with this situation? Do you want me to focus on how you enjoy getting under my skin when you take forever to get ready?”

Shiro rolled his eyes again at Keith’s dramatics. They had known each other ever since they both enrolled into the Galra army and, while Shiro’s leadership skills had him fly up the ranks, it was Keith’s steady persistence and survival instincts that led him to be one of the best soldiers in the entire army. If Shiro was being honest, he knew that Keith had long surpassed him. Although Keith wasn’t ready to admit that, maybe he didn’t need to look up to Shiro and should start seeing him as an equal on the battlefield. Yet old habits die hard for Keith, and still he imagined himself chasing after Shiro’s retreating figure.

“No, I’d rather you focus on getting ready. You don’t seriously plan on wearing your uniform to the ball, right?” 

Keith narrowed his eyes, looking down at himself. It wasn’t like he was wearing his armor, and Keith thought it looked decent enough. The uniform was a dark purple, gold accents lining his shoulders and down his front along the buttons. It stuck out against his soft lavender toned skin while also making him seem a paler purple than normal. His colouring was exactly what earned him years of teasing that edged on to bullying and then later on hazing when he joined the military. After years of growing numb to it, Keith could care less that when he’ll eventually be stuck in a room full of people giving him odd glances and questioning stares of how he didn’t quite look like a full fledged Galra. 

“What’s wrong with wearing my uniform? It’s not like I’m going there to court someone.” Keith scoffed, yet his fingers reached down to tug at the hem of his jacket unconsciously. Shiro let out a soft hum and stepped forward, reaching out and straightening out Keith’s jacket. After giving him one last final pat on the shoulders he stepped back and examined Keith again. It was all Keith could do to not start fidgeting again.

“Yeah, you’re right. Well, at least you won’t get caught violating any dress codes. I’m sure the celebration on Planet Arus was quite enough of a scene to cause,” Shiro stated, grinning wickedly when he saw how quickly Keith’s face flushed with embarrassment at the memory.

“Are you almost done yet? We’re probably extremely late by now. People will think we’re being rude,” Keith grumbled, settling back to lean against the door again. Shiro stepped back towards the shared closet, pulling out a few articles of clothing. 

“Since when did you care about what people think of you?” Shiro called out as he stepped into the bathroom to change into his attire. 

“Oh, shut up. You know what I mean,” Keith snapped back lightly, sighing in relief when Shiro stepped out fully dressed and completely ready. 

“Fucking finally,” Keith groaned, stretching out leisurely and stepping out into the hallway to head down to where the large ballroom was supposed to be. There were some perks to being invited as honorary guests to a Royal event, Keith supposed. And private guest bedrooms was a definite perk in Keith’s opinion. 

By the time Keith had reached the doorways leading to the enormous ballroom he could already hear the very ending of an extremely large cheer. His ears twitched and flicked back slightly from the sides of his head and he frowned. He was already starting to reach his limit with crowds and he hadn’t even gone inside. Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder, as if feeling how tense Keith was getting.

“Patience yields focus,” Shiro said softly, smiling down at him. Keith frowned back up at him.

“Fine. I’ll just focus on how many minutes left I have to endure this before I can have the excuse to leave for bed,” He huffed back, ignoring Shiro’s soft chuckle as he shoved the doors open. Immediately he was struck by loud music and too many voices to be able to focus on anything.

His stomach sinking, Keith marched forward with purpose towards where he could see the bar. He felt a desperate need to start chugging down as many mixed drinks that he could get away with before Shiro could try to stop him. 

\---

“-And then I told him why he couldn’t get the jugs himself since he had his foot already stuck in him!” Lance finished his grand story, waving his arms theatrically if only to encourage the beautiful Balmeran standing before him to continue giggling at him. He grinned back, leaning towards her casually before flicking his gaze upwards when he felt a large gush of wind coming from the opened door. 

His jaw dropped when he saw who stormed past the threshold. 

He kept his eyes locked on the figure, taking in the adorable frown on his face and how dark eyebrows furrowed above intense striking eyes. Lance swallowed hard as he saw how nicely the clothes he was dressed in complimented his almost pastel lavender skin. He had always loved an alien in uniform. 

“Shay! There you are!” A voice boomed, snapping Lance out of his trance. Turning, he spotted another Balmeran heading over towards them. He straightened himself, a voice that sounded strangely like Coran echoing inside his head about on his posture. Once the new Balmeran reached them, they immediately took Shay into a hug.

“Hunk! You found me so quickly. I made a new friend, his name is Lance.” Shay giggled, gesturing to where Lance stood. Lance smiled at Hunk, trying not to look as awkward as he felt.

“Hey, there. Nice to meetcha,” Lance said, holding out his hand. His outstretched hand was ignored as Hunk wrapped him up in his own hug. He blinked twice before realizing what was happening and hugging back.

“Wow, you are a friendly guy, huh, buddy?” Lance grinned, stepping back once he was released from Hunk’s hold. The Balmeran sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, shrugging.

“Yeah, it’s just been forever since we’ve been out, y’know? And if you’re a friend of Shay, you’re a friend of mine,” Hunk said.

“Nah, it’s cool big guy. I feel like we could be great friends.” Lance smiled, his smile growing when Hunk beamed back at him. Lance’s gaze travelled away again, scanning the room to try and find the figure again. “It was really nice meeting you guys, but I’ve gotta go mingle some more. Boss’ orders.” Lance stepped away, giving the two one last wave before weaving throughout the crowd. 

It didn’t take long for Lance to discover that maybe walking into the dance floor to try and find who was looking for wasn’t such a good idea. He instead chose to wander around the edges of the room, his head constantly looking around. A flash of soft purple crossed his gaze and his eyes snapped back towards the male figure. It seemed like he was at one of the bar stands, leaning against the counter and cradling a drink in his hand. His eyes were unfocused, looking towards the huge crowd of people. Lance grinned, stuffing his hands into his pockets and casually making his way over. 

“Y’know, you strike me as someone who’s never been satisfied,” Lance stated, grinning when the stranger’s eyes refocused and snapped towards Lance. He leaned towards the figure, taking the spot beside them. The stranger’s lips quirked upwards slightly and a gleam of amusement showed in their eyes. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The stranger murmured and Lance had to physically restrain himself from shivering at the low husky tone of their voice.

“I think we’re a lot alike, you and me. I’ve never been really satisfied,” Lance murmured, taking the smallest step towards them. The stranger tilted their head to the side, a small hint of a smile spreading across their face.

“Is that right?” They said softly. Lance barely nodded, taking another step. He was getting close to them, able to make out how their eyes somehow had flecks of lighter shades of purple and blue trapped inside their own dark purple. Lance couldn’t help but be drawn into them, some sort of pull they had that captured him completely. 

“Yeah. My name’s Lance.” 

“Keith.” 

“So, Keith, what drink do you have there?” Lance asked, gesturing towards the drink Keith still had clasped in his hands. He blinked, looking down as if he had just realized that he had a drink this whole time.

“Huh. Uh, I’m not exactly sure? Want to try?” Keith tipped his glass forwards, letting Lance take it from his hands. Lance took a small sip. He gave the drink back to its owner and leaned back, considering the taste of it.

“Huh. It’s sweet. Wait, is that juniberry wine? Ooooooh, bartender! I’ll have a glass of that, please!” Lance said, waving his hand to try and be as polite as possible when getting the workers attention. He grinned when he was given his own glass of silvery purple wine, taking a large swig of the drink.

“You’ve got great taste, Keith.” Lance winked, internally praising himself when he noticed the small flush that spread throughout Keith’s cheeks. The Galra took a sip of his own wine, immediately making a face of displeasure.

“You like this? This tastes awful. Exactly like the medicine Shiro forces me to take whenever we go to a foreign planet with no helmets.” Keith practically hissed at the offending glass in his hand. Lance rolled his eyes in response, taking the drink from Keith again.

“Whatever, more for me, then. What kind of drinks do you like?” 

“Anything but that.” Keith said, crossing his arms over his chest once he realized that his hands were free from any objects.

“Huh. Hm. Wanna try some nunvil, then? It’s an acquired taste, though.” 

“Nothing could ever be worse than that.” Keith stated, turning slightly to order the drink Lance had suggested. A few moments later, with a new glass in hand, Keith took a huge gulp of the drink. Lance was surprised when there was no outward reaction to the drink, and assumed that maybe this was the drink that Keith would like.

“... I was wrong. This is worse. Far worse. How is that even possible?” Keith glared down at the cup in his hands, placing it down on the counter. Lance grinned, letting out a small chuckle at Keith’s pout. He was acting far too cute for his own good. 

“Okay, after I finish off this wine how about we taste test some of the other alcohol they’ve got here?” Lance suggested, his grin widening when Keith nodded in agreement.

“As long as I don’t have to suffer alone.” 

“Sweet.” Lance chugged the two glasses of wine he had in his hands. He placed the empty glasses down onto the counter and turned and met Keith’s bewildered gaze.

“What? Is it dripping on my clothes? Coran’s gonna kill me if I mess up these clothes.” Lance asked, looking down to inspect himself and see if any stray droplets decided to stain the precious skin tight garments.

“No. No, it’s not that. It’s just that I’ve never seen someone readily chug that much alcohol and not be affected.” Keith said, tilting his head to the side and studying Lance closely. Lance could feel his own face begin to flush, red blooming across his cheeks as Keith stepped into Lance’s personal bubble.

“Ha, yeah. Well, I guess you could say that I’ve gotten a tolerance for alcohol due to way too many parties in my youth.” Lance laughed softly, attempting a half hearted wink that seemed to stop Keith’s movements in a heartbeat. Keith was frozen, muscles locked as his mind tried to work again. After another minute of being frozen, Keith snapped back to attention and leaned back. He smiled back at Lance, his smile widening when he could hear the low whine of protest coming from the back of Lance’s throat. It was satisfying knowing he wasn’t alone in being charmed by the other.

“So. About that alcohol…” 

“Right. Ready to get drunk?”

“Oh, I was born ready!”

\---

Shiro found the two of them an hour later, with far too many empty glasses crowded around them. It was obvious that the two of them were wasted, leaning onto each other for support and smiling at each other. One would begin talking, but would only get a few words in before they would both erupt into giggles that lasted for a few minutes and then repeating the cycle when they would calm down. 

\---

Lance woke up the next morning with one glaring thought staring right back at him. 

“I must court him,” Lance mumbled, his voice still half asleep while his mind is running far faster than he could ever keep up with. With a gasp, he shot straight up, jumping out of bed and getting dressed in a hurry.

“Gotta court him, gotta court him. Shit how do I court him?” Lance kept talking to himself as he ran down hallways, dodging others that were mingling inside the hallways and preparing the castle for.morning festivities. 

“Gotta find Coran. Or Hunk. He seemed nice. Or Allura. Or Pidge.” Lance continued to chant, throwing open any door that he found so he could quickly peek inside to see if anyone he needed to talk to was there. After all these years living in the castle you’d think that he'd know where everything was but his memory seems to take off whenever he was wrapped up in panic.

Sometime after the fifteenth door, Lance found Pidge hunched over a gadget that they were in the process of taking apart.

“Pidge! I have a problem!” Lance declared and marched his way over to where they sat on the floor. The tiny Olkarion glared over at him before setting aside their little project.

“What is it now Lance?” They grumbled, looking every inch the pissed off gremlin Lance knew and loved. 

“I met someone last night.” 

“Well, that's not very surprising given that you’re Lance. Meeting people is your thing.”

“No. I met someone. Like. A possible-courtship someone!” Lance said, hands flying all over the place as he gestured dramatically. Pidge simply stared at him, unimpressed.

“And why did you think asking me for help would be any good?”

“How do you even start courting someone?”

“Uh, you ask? Duh.” Pidge sighed and reached towards the gadget again. It was almost as if this wasn't the first time that Lance had decided to barge in and ask questions that were unrelated to their expertise. This was far from the first time, if Pidge wanted to be completely honest.

“But Piiiiidgey what if he says no? What if he isn't even on Altea anymore?” 

“He was at the ball, wasn't he?” 

“Yeah.”

“Then he’s still here. The ball was just the start of celebrating Allura's coming of age. If he attended the ball, he’ll be attending everything else most likely.” 

“Pidge, you are a genius, you know that?”

“Oh, trust me. I know.” 

“Okay cool, bye, gotta go find Coran now bye! Talk to you later!” Lance called from behind him, already halfway out the door. 

\---

When Keith woke up he immediately went straight to Shiro’s bed and started pushing at him insistently.

“Shiro. Wake up. I have a problem.” Keith said, shoving harder on every sentence until Shiro eventually stirred and slowly sat up.

“... What? What time is it.”

“It's Keith-Has-A-Problem-Please-Give-A-Solution time.” 

“Funny. But really, what time is it?”

“If you really must know, it’s eight in the morning, standard Altean time.” Keith huffed, and Shiro let out a loud groan. He had drunk far too much and he knew that Keith had as well and it just wasn’t fair that Keith never seemed to get hungover from any amount of alcohol.

“What is the problem you’ve got that is so important that you need to wake me up this early for?”

“I met someone last night. And. I want to try courting them.” After hearing that, Shiro quickly snapped his attention to Keith. He let out a small groan of protest, cradling his head that began pounding from his sudden movement.

“You want to court him? The Altean I saw you with at the bar? You weren’t even sober enough to get to know him properly. Neither of you were!” Shiro tried to protest, attempting to use logic to stop Keith from pursuing any potentially bad ideas. 

“Well, we also got to know each other. After the drinking. When we were mostly sober and not drinking anymore strange alcoholic beverages. Shiro you don’t understand. Lance is… He’s…” Keith began, his attention drifting away when he remembered last night with a fond smile. A night spent with the two of them first drinking themselves silly that led to them hiding in the shadows of the room talking to each other with hushed voices and muffled laughter. And then to top it all off, Lance had convinced Keith to dance with him and that’s how they spent the last few hours of the party. Keith had honestly had a blast. That night was more fun than anything else he’d ever experienced.

“Okay, okay. I get it now. He must have made quite the impression. Why don’t you try and find him and ask him if he’d be okay with you courting him, then?” Shiro suggested, and Keith just gave Shiro a glare.

“It can’t be that easy,” Keith protested.

“Keith. It is that easy. The hard part is making everything work. Getting started is a breeze in comparison.”

“How would you know?”

“Matt.”

“Oh. Right.” Keith had completely forgotten about Shiro’s best friend and court mate. They had been courting each other for nearly two years now, after Keith had finally nagged Shiro about it ever since he had heard of Shiro’s childhood friend. “But that’s different! You knew Matt pretty much your entire life.”

“Keith, it’s more alike than you think. Just a few days ago I learned that his younger sibling doesn’t go by Katie anymore. There’s something new everyday to learn about each other. But it’s your choice, Keith. You know I’ll still be here no matter what.” Keith paused and took a moment, letting the words sink in.

“Yeah. You’re right. Okay, I need to go. What are you supposed to get for an Altean?” 

“I heard they appreciated shiny things,” Shiro offered helpfully. Keith nodded and started his march towards the door. “Shouldn’t you get changed before you head out?”

Keith paused and rewrote his route towards where his suitcase was. “Right. I’ll leave in a few minutes then.” 

Shiro chuckled good naturedly and rolled over, deciding to go back to sleep.

\---

Lance found Coran an hour after meeting Pidge. The elderly man was inside his office, studying his bookshelves and twisting his moustache appearing as if he was deep in thought.

“Coran, how do you court a Galra?” Lance blurted out, unable to even proceed with normal pleasantries at the moment. Coran didn’t seem surprised at all by Lance suddenly barging into his room and instead turned around and grinned at the young Altean.

“Ah, Lance! How are you, my young right hand man?” Coran beamed, unshaken by Lance’s disheveled appearance. Lance didn’t even take the time to brush his hair, let alone do his morning skin care routine.

“I’m great. I think? Yeah, I’m great! But Coran, seriously. How do you court a Galra? I barely know how to court normally for an Altean, let alone an entirely different species! What if our customs are completely different. They are, aren’t they? I mean, I heard rumours but you can never trust what rumours say. Other species think we just cover ourselves in jewels when we want to find someone but that’s obviously not true. Altean mines don’t even get enough jewels for every single Altean to cover themselves head to toe with sparkly jewels.” Lance began babbling, pacing throughout the room. Coran began twisting his moustache around again, watching Lance with interest.

“Well, I do know that the Galra do have some difference from us Alteans. But we’re also very similar in that courtship is a very serious affair. We don’t court just anyone, you see. But if you were to gift something to a Galra, they enjoy practical gifts. Something they can use repeatedly. Something with a purpose.” Coran began his lecture and Lance immediately stopped in his tracks to pay attention. The older Altean saw this and gave Lance a wry smile. If only he could pay this much attention in meetings and Coran’s regular lectures and stories.

“And the Galra don’t usually participate in letter sharing like how we Alteans do. They prefer to spend physical time together the first few weeks of courtship. Although everything is fairly innocent, all things considered by other species.” 

Lance nodded to himself, absently tapping on the desk beside him in thought.

“Practical things… Purpose… I got it! Thanks Coran, you’re the best! I’ve gotta head to the marketplace now!” Lance called out, giving Coran a brief hug before running out of the room. Coran chuckled and went back to staring at his bookshelves, his hand reaching back up to resume twirling his moustache around and around.

\---

Keith was wandering around the crowded marketplace, ears drawn into the sides of his head. There was way too much noise than what he was comfortable with outside of the battlefield. He let his gaze wander around, barely paying attention to what was going on around him. Which is exactly how Lance found him, crashing the both of them to the ground as Lance barreled straight into him.

“Oof!” 

“Oh my god I’m so so sorry, I’m just looking for—wait, Keith?” Keith groaned and opened his eyes, staring straight into the brightest shade of blue Keith remembered being caught off guard with last night. 

“Lance…? What are you doing?” Keith muttered, sitting up as Lance scrambled off of him. He reached down a hand, helping Keith to his feet. 

“Oh. Right. Well funny story, I was actually looking for a gift. For you,” Lance murmured, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. 

“For me?” 

“Yeah! Wait, why are you here?”

“I was looking for a gift for you.” Keith stated bluntly, taking pleasure in the way Lance flushed with happiness at his statement.

“Really? Why?”

“Well. I was planning for it to be a courting gift.” Keith grinned at the tiny squeak that left Lance’s lips at the sudden confession. He tilted his head to the side, watching Lance’s reaction carefully. “Is that okay?”

“More than okay! I mean, I was looking to get a courting gift for you too, y’know?” Lance said, laughing nervously as his hand kept rubbing the back of his neck. Keith’s eyes widened in surprise, a sudden burst of butterflies erupting from his stomach.

“You… Want to court me, too?” Lance nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, man. I mean. I really liked talking to you last night. And I really like you too.” Lance said, smiling at Keith.

“I like you too, Lance,” Keith replied softly. They both stood there for a moment, smiling at each other. Two still bodies in their own little world while the crowd kept flowing past and around them. 

“So. Are we officially court mates, then?” Lance asked, breaking the fragile moment. Keith rolled his eyes, although they were full of affection when they focused on Lance.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you again, Official Court Mate.” Keith said dryly. Lance grinned and reached a hand out towards Keith.

“Nice to meet you again too, Official Court Mate with a mullet. Wanna go for a spur of the moment date?” Lance asked. Keith smiled and took his hand. They both interlocked their fingers and wandered around the marketplace together. They kept their attention on each other, trying to catch what the other would like and what caught their eye.

\---

The next morning Lance woke up with a package in front of his bedroom door. A single card was tucked inside the bright red ribbon with only the letter ‘K’ scrawled on it. When Lance crawled back into bed he took a moment and simply traced the letter over and over again with the biggest grin on his face.

When Lance finally, delicately, opened the package he swore his heart stopped for a moment. There, tucked inside a soft piece of purple fabric was the prettiest necklace Lance had ever seen. He could feel his eyes become filled with emotional tears as he took out the necklace and studied it. Bright blue jewels sparkled as they caught the light, the largest teardrop shaped one in the middle almost the exact same colour as his own eyes. Immediately he ran over to his vanity mirror, sitting down and putting the necklace on.

He spent the next hour watching himself in the mirror and cradling the necklace in his palm.

\---

Keith woke up the morning after that with Shiro grinning smugly at him as he pointed to a package he put on top of Keith’s bed. He raised an eyebrow in question, before he saw a card stick out with the letter ‘L’ written in loopy cursive.

He immediately torn into the package, carefully setting the card to the side and he did so. After briefly struggling with the ribbon he had a brief thought of how much easier it would be if he just had a small dagger with him. But, of course, Shiro wouldn’t let him bring any of his weapons with him. Shiro had calmly stated that all of them were far too big and intimidating to bring to a peaceful celebration. He had just finished remembering that interaction when he noticed a gleam of polished silver. Keith gasped softly as he took out the small dagger. It’s design was simple, yet the handle was carved with painstaking care. 

Keith spent the next few hours inside a public training arena, testing out his new favourite weapon.

\---

The next few months Keith could only describe as blissful. Although he had to leave Altea and Lance behind a week after Allura’s coming of age royal ball, each morning he woke up to a new message from his beloved court mate. And even though his visits were sparse, he cherished every moment he got to spend by Lance’s side. They both fell hard for each other. Even Shiro had stated how even he wasn’t this mushy when it came to Matt. Keith didn’t care, though. He was happy, Lance was happy, and that was all that mattered in his opinion.

Keith was on another visit to Altea. Lance had decided to take them to the royal courtyard and have a picnic. They both lay next to each other, taking in the sight of the sky above them. The sun was warm on Keith’s skin and he closed his eyes to appreciate the warmth that spread throughout his entire being.

“You won’t be able to visit for awhile after this, huh?” Lance said softly, his voice just a bare whisper that he let the wind carry over to Keith. 

“Yeah. I need to head back tomorrow morning. Everyone is pretty shaken when our own home planet got destroyed and our king died.”

“Yeah. Alfor is especially taking the death of Zarkon pretty hard.” Lance agreed softly, reaching his hand out to take Keith’s. Keith took Lance’s hand gratefully. He brought their linked hands up to his chest, gently pressing his lips to the back of Lance’s hand. 

“I love you, Lance.” Keith said softly, looking towards where he is. “Wait, why are you crying? What’s wrong?” 

Lance shook his head.

“Nothing is wrong. I love you too, Keith. It’s hard to believe we’ve only known each other for a few months. It feels like I’ve been with you all my life.” 

“I feel the same. I can’t imagine life without you.” Keith said softly, reaching forward and kissing away the tears that gathered in Lance’s eyes.

\---

The next morning Keith and Lance clung onto each other in a desperate hug. They both gently swayed back and forth, whispering sweet somethings in each others ears. With a promise to try and visit before the next month is over, Keith climbed onto the Galran ship that took him away from Altea.

\---

Keith was aboard the main ship when it happened. In the middle of the day all of the soldiers aboard were to go to the large atrium that was typically used for announcements before they went to their next mission. Keith was placed in line with the other soldiers. They were all dressed in their battle suits. He and the others faced a large screen, waiting for the announcement to come.

When the video feed finally came to life, a huge gasp went throughout the room as Zarkon appeared before them. It had to have been some sort of joke, but Zarkon definitely never looked like this before. He looked undead, his skin an unnatural shade and his eyes sunk deep into his skull. It made sense, in a twisted way. He was undead. He was Zarkon. And now he had an announcement.

As Zarkon’s voice boomed across the room, Keith felt dread begin to build in his stomach when planet Altea showed up on screen.

“No…” Keith whispered softly as Zarkon began to speak about revenge upon the ones who had done their species wrong. Zarkon spoke of change, of ruling over the entire universe and all Keith wanted in that moment was to be where Lance stood instead. Keith could feel his vision going blurry as the screen continued to zoom out to see one of the large fleets of ships surround the planet.

As the large laser beam began charging, Keith couldn’t help but bring a hand up to his mouth to stifle the sobs that were threatening to spill through his fingers. He began to feel physically sick, vile building up in the back of his throat.

“Please. No. Lance,” Keith cried out into his palm, effectively muffling his cries out. 

The beam shot out of the ship, tearing apart an entire hole of Altea. One after another the large purple beams shot across the galaxy, tearing Altea to shreds and leaving no possible way for any survivors to leave the planet in time. When everything stopped, there were only a few tiny chunks of land left. Keith’s other hand clutched his stomach as he reality came crashing down on how his only court mate, the one he had a ring stashed away in his room to propose to him the next month, was gone. Was dead and wasn’t going to come back from the dead like how his emperor did. It left a cold and bitter feeling that spread like ice throughout his veins.

\---

When Keith reached the solitude of his room he let out a terrible heart wrenching scream of despair that echoed back tauntingly at him.

 

\---

Keith wasn’t a patient person by nature but he knew that for what he had planned, he would need to take his time. So he had sat back and observed his surroundings. He held his breath as he saw the first wave of public executions, of people who had first tried to revolt against Zarkon’s rule. All it did was grow the fire that starting sparking ever since Lance’s death. Each person that he saw get caught of organizing any rebel groups gave him new ideas of how to get away with creating his own. 

It was finally nearly two years later since the destruction of Altea when Keith first started making his moves. He went by it quietly, observed others that looked prepared to fight for what was truly right instead of walking by blindly. The news spread as hushed whispers between the shadows, in between alcoves and hidden hallways and long abandoned alleys in the streets. Hope finally began to bloom in Keith’s chest, something he thought would have long been dead. Buried six feet under with his love. The meeting didn’t take place until a small group was already prepared. A final small stream of whispers to tell of where their first meeting would take place and that is how Keith found himself standing in front of the underground doorway. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked inside half expecting the room to already be stormed by Zarkon’s soldiers. Instead he was met with ten people, all of them he had personally picked to carry out the mission alongside him. His Blade of Marmora.

“Ah, so the halfling finally shows himself.” One soldier leered from the back corner he was sulking against. One look from Keith and the soldier went straight back to his sulking. 

“Thank you for meeting me here today. For being a part of this order. I called you here because we have a mission. A need to correct the wrongs that Zarkon’s destructive path has taken us. That’s why I have decided to create the Blade of Marmora. This very order has been used in the past, it has become a symbol of hope whenever times got tough. And now it will become our own symbol. Of hope. Of protest. Of survival. We have all lost things ever since Zarkon revived himself. And Zarkon can’t get away with this. But this will take time. This will not be able to become a huge change. We don’t have nearly enough people or resources to take Zarkon down tomorrow. This will be a slow burn, a fire that we will have to keep ignited across generations perhaps. But Zarkon will eventually weaken while we will get stronger. Our knowledge will give him the death that he has been long overdue for.”

Keith looked across the room, taking the time to look each and every person in the eye before finishing his speech. 

“I’m willing to give up everything I have left for this mission. Are you?”


End file.
